June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Cisco Systems Inc., the largest
maker of computer-networking gear, said Padmasree Warrior is
taking on an expanded role to oversee strategy, underscoring the
company’s move away from the consumer-focused acquisitions
favored by her departing predecessor, Ned Hooper.

Pankaj Patel, 58, will lead Cisco’s engineering
organization, a job he shared with Warrior, 51, the San Jose,
California-based company said yesterday in a blog posting.
Hooper, 45, is forming an independent investment partnership
company that will have Cisco as a partner.

The changes are part of a broader overhaul undertaken by
Chief Executive Officer John Chambers last year to cut costs and
bureaucracy and reverse market-share losses. To help Cisco focus
on its main businesses of routers and switches, which handle
Internet traffic, Chambers is also shutting consumer businesses
that were bolstered by a Hooper-led acquisition spree.

“He doesn’t fit anymore in the new Cisco,” said Joanna
Makris, an analyst at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York.
“Padma has much more of a bird’s-eye view of technology.”

Consumer Foray

Yet his focus more recently turned to consumer companies,
such as Pure Digital Technologies, which made the Flip Video
camera. The foray left Cisco overextended in markets it doesn’t
dominate, and Chambers discontinued sales of the Flip last year.

Cisco didn’t make executives available for interviews, and
Hooper did not respond to a phone call and e-mail.

Chambers, who has worked at Cisco since 1991, said in 2009
that he planned to remain on the job at least another three to
five years. He has been overhauling management to rebuild
confidence among investors and customers who grew concerned that
the company had expanded into too many new businesses.

Chambers has emphasized that Cisco is working on succession
planning and that a number of current executives would be good
candidates.

Makris said Warrior would probably be in consideration for
the job along with other executives.

Warrior’s Blog

Warrior, who was hired from Motorola Inc. in 2007, is a
frequent presenter at Cisco conferences and has a wide following
on Twitter Inc. She has posted more than 10,000 times about
Cisco and technology trends as well as personal notes, such as a
tweet three days ago informing her 1.4 million followers that
she was celebrating her 28th wedding anniversary.

At Cisco, Warrior’s focus has been on “unifying”
businesses and selling the idea of how the products work
together, a job that she has done well, said William Kreher, an
analyst at Edward Jones & Co.

She also wrote a blog in 2007 that said she saw “nothing
revolutionary or disruptive about any of the technologies” in
Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

“As worshippers come out of the heady, enthralling,
grandstand production called Macworld, the hype settles and
reality sets in,” she wrote after Apple introduced the iPhone
at an annual conference.

Apple has since sold more than 200 million of the devices.

Executive Departures

Hooper’s departure marks another high-profile loss for
Cisco, whose ranks of potential successors to Chambers has
dwindled in the past five years. Charlie Giancarlo, the former
No. 2 to Chambers, left in 2008 to join Silver Lake Partners.
Jayshree Ullal, Mike Volpi and Tony Bates, who were all senior
vice presidents, also departed in recent years, as did Hooper’s
second in command, Charles Carmel, who left last year for
Warburg Pincus LLC.

Hooper also ran a $2 billion venture capital fund within
Cisco to invest in new markets and technologies. Cisco plans to
work with Hooper in his role at the investment company, which
the company declined to identify.

“Ned has been working on his plan with us over a number of
months, and we look forward to partnering with him in his new
endeavor,” Chambers and Chief Operating Officer Gary Moore
wrote in the blog post.

The corporate strategy and business development team, which
includes acquisitions, will report to Warrior, according to
Cisco. Pankaj Patel previously ran Cisco’s service provider
business, which sells to Internet providers and
telecommunications operators.

Cisco fell 0.7 percent to $16.82 at yesterday’s close in
New York. The stock has dropped 7 percent this year.